Brain Fertilizer

[edited for clarity/accuracy, changes in italics]
I sent the following email to Michelle Malkin:

Ma'am,
In this article, you included a discussion by one of your readers who assumed the rifle in question was probably the Chinese version of the Russian Moison-Nagant M91/30. That is most likely incorrect. First of all, there was a Chinese "assault" rifle in use at that time, and it was known to be exported to North Vietnam. This is the Chinese version of the SKS, the Type 56.

Second of all, while the line that the rifles were "originally manufactured in Russia more than 100 years ago" does lead in the direction your reader went, the Chinese never used the M91/30 in any significant quantity I could discover. Just as many other nations did in the 30s, the USSR then produced a carbine version of the M91/30, the M38. Their experiences in WWII with a conscript army and ammunition shortages led them to add a permanently-attached bayonet to the carbine to make it the M44. This last version was licensed to China and produced as the Type 53 rifle. It saw extensive action in Viet Nam.

His facts about the cartridge and its performance are correct. I would add that the Russian 7.62x54R cartridge is the contemporary of and equivalent in velocity, impact, range, and accuracy to the US .30-'06 cartridge.